Today is the first active learning session of the year. This is a new initiative that Mr Jones has introduced in previous newsletters on the school website and that was formally presented to the student body at assemblies two weeks ago.

The new Newlands College vision was published at the beginning of 2016 after a long process of consultation with the staff, students and community. It represents our vision of learning for Newlands College students and represents the underpinning of the teaching and learning that goes on within the school. Realising this vision is now the school’s new goal and this means some initiatives and changes will unfold in order to achieve the best learning outcomes for each and every learner.

Active Learning is one of these exciting initiatives. Groups will be formed and assigned a teacher. They will meet once a week on Monday to develop projects that individual students or groups of students are interested in. The school will then give time for these projects to be realised with three days off timetable where the learning can go outside of the classroom and into real world contexts.

Initially the process will involve exploring interest areas and promoting deep learning about these topics. Plans will be made about how to explore these ideas and some research may occur. This will lead towards a day on the 21st June where these plans can be put into practice. Further reflect and development will follow and then two consecutive days in August will see this active learning in action.

The projects undertaken might be to solve an issue like littering at the school, or to develop a community project to address a need. The students will need to collaborate, problem solve, engage in real world processes and challenge themselves. We hope this leads a showcase night where the outcomes can be unveiled.

For Year 12s, this is a superb opportunity to demonstrate leadership and make a real difference to both their own and others’ learning. We are all looking forward to seeing how the students take to this exciting opportunity!